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[Unholy_Pariah]

Max intuition and general knowledge.

just luck your way through everything with hunches that border on precognition.

[Nikitian]

It's irrelevant, but I think this means Saint has gotten three respecs in a row, without rolling anything.  Huh.

If I am to guess, this is exactly the point. As in, let's say Maurice has stayed on Hephaestus for as long as Steve (Saint, I mean), but he did go off on various mission(s) at some point in time. Could he get a respec? Well, I doubt so, because (in our imaginary scenario) first he didn't remain on Hephaestus as long as Steve did, and second he actually got a level-up in between periods of Hephaestus stay, and had rolled a lot during the mission to get that level-up. So - think of it as "a character who hasn't been on a mission can re-respec until significant rolls are involved" .
(That's my 0.002 tokens.)

As for the respec:
Stat-wise, I'd suggest dumping Fate down to -1, as it might be in line with Steve (Saint)'s fear of death and going to great lengths to ensure own safety (cause and effect paradox, I guess, but it might be an interesting addition to his character). I don't know what 'relationship' Saint has with Intuition, but as a capable Hephaestus Administrator with many inventions under his belt, I guess it could be brought up to +1 from start/level-up'd to +1/left at +0. Same (only in spades) goes for Mind (which is, as latest M25L development shows, still Int somewhere deep at heart (not to be confused with Intu!)); actually, I think you could even say that his high Mind was the reason he resisted the Curse of Hephaestus Staff (terminal Stasis Catatonia) this long. Finally, as 'useless' it is, I think Steve deserves Cha at +1 (or at least at +0). He's that suave, I think.
Skill-wise, ... don't know. Dumping Med seems like a decision you'd have to make on your own, but I guess that during all these years it could have been semi-forgotten, resulting in +0. Aux is a no-brainer choice, but I don't really know how much you are interested in Exo (if backstory is needed, I think your involvement with MMI paid off in increasing Exo. Handiwork... well, depends on how much you intend to get 'down to business', but from Hephaestus experience I'd expect that Steve would rather have someone else do the technician's job for him. But maybe I'm wrong.

Or, having seen your stats and level-up points, I came up with this:

Spoiler: Steve Saint, the Wild Mage (click to show/hide)

Stats:
Strength:   -1
Dexterity:  -1
Endurance:  +1
Charisma:   +0
Mind:       +2=>+3 (lvl-up + 10 pts)
Fate:       -1
Intuition:  -1

Skills
Handiwork:              -1
Conventional Weapons:   -2
Unconventional Weapons: -2
Exotic weapons:         +2
Auxiliary systems:      +2
Medical tech:           +0
General Knowledge:      -2
(Lvl-up either to Med or Handi. Or maybe Exo/Aux for long-term.)

Spoiler: Steve Saint, the Roboticist (click to show/hide)

Stats:
Strength:   -1
Dexterity:  -1
Endurance:  +1
Charisma:   +0
Mind:       +2
Fate:       -1
Intuition:  -1
(Lvl-up to... Intu? Fate? Dex? Cha? Mind/End for long-term? Well, somewhere.)

Skills
Handiwork:              +0
Conventional Weapons:   -2
Unconventional Weapons: -2
Exotic weapons:         +0
Auxiliary systems:      +2=>+3 (lvl-up + 10 pts)
Medical tech:           +0
General Knowledge:      +0
("+1" to Exo, Med or Handi.)

P.S. Alternatively, I can suggest considering Uncon instead of Exo. Not as flashy, but much more 'science-y'. Especially with all the new additions.
Here, I'll even give a stab at another charsheet.

Spoiler: Steve Saint, the Science Wizard (click to show/hide)

Stats:
Strength:   -1
Dexterity:  -1
Endurance:  +1
Charisma:   +0
Mind:       +2
Fate:       -1
Intuition:  -1
(lvl-up to End, probably)

Skills
Handiwork:              -1
Conventional Weapons:   -2
Unconventional Weapons: +2=>+3 (lvl-up + 10 pts)
Exotic weapons:         -2
Auxiliary systems:      +2
Medical tech:           +0
General Knowledge:      -2

[Harry Baldman]

-1 Fate could also be taken to mean that piecewise wants you dead. I mean, we already know the RNG wants Saint dead from how he got blown up first thing in the Hephaestus defense and then, unless I remember incorrectly, got killed again on boarding impact, meaning he died twice in as many days. That's definitely -1 Fate material.

[Ozarck]

Max intuition and general knowledge.

just luck your way through everything with hunches that border on precognition.

+1

[Moopli]

"As for the 'Volunteers' for the first human test phase of our plan, are we pulling those from our test subject pool?"

Most of the 'volunteers' you picked up in the last phase of your mission could be easily convinced that the world is ending and you're working to find a safe place to resettle, which would make it possible to make committed explorers out of the young and unattached, or the fathers, uncles, etc. Set up a whole schtick kinda like the HMRC, with obviously different premises, wake up good prospects in small groups, bring them onside, set up a training regimen to get them prepared, you're running a BLOPS mission with all (well, most...) of heph ready to support you, and the guys aren't player characters, meaning you don't have to treat them like dirt !

[syvarris]

Spoiler: Semantics with Paris (click to show/hide)

He studied an effect, he made a hypothesis on how it works and how it could make it work better and then through experimentation found a pattern that mimicked desirable effects.

This is probably our largest disconnect.  I interpreted PW's answer to mean that the effect is either existent, or non-existent, so you can only really try random permutations until one works.  Furthermore, I don't see what spurred Aresteve to experiment with this in the first place.

Unless you have a different definition about creativity?

Partially, yes.  Simply examining something and trying to mimic it isn't creativity to my mind.  Neither is testing simple alterations to a design and then deciding one is more useful than another.  So, designing the Testament or Doctrine isn't creative, but some of my more unusual forcefield/plasma weapon ideas might be.

Arguably, if Aresteve was coming up with hypotheses and testing them, that would qulify as being creative, but I naturally assume that he hasn't been doing so.  Yes, that is unfair to Aresteve.

Aresteve is a part of Steve, complex enough that Steve enjoyed talking to him before he merged with him and "convinced" him to join ARM.

This is another case of us interpreting the same thing differently.  See, I thought that Steve enjoyed talking to Ares because Ares was one of the few intelligences with comparable size to Steve, but not because Ares had comparable intelligence, if that makes any sense.  Imagine that you're only able to communicate with people through a very simple text messaging system, and never talk to anyone outside of that.  It would be enjoyable to talk to anyone in person, even if they were a child who's less intelligent than the people you talk with using texts, because you both can use your full range of facial expressions and body language.

As for the merging, I was under the impression that it was less of a literal merge, and more Steve hacking Ares to reflect all his own opinons.  Aresteve still has the same hardware limitations he always had, but his personality (as opposed to capabilities and intelligence) is entirely different.

Does initiative mean doing something in line with your orders that was not initially ordered? If yes, then Aresteve has already done that. He can manage the production of Hephaestus and protect the facilities, he can keep an eye on the population and security and run Stevebot patrols, he can look at the solar system and suggest courses of action. He has no problem running Hephaestus and dealing with any problems that come up. Even if he was ordered to do that, he still had to come up with new solutions and apply them without supervision or explicit permission.

Yeah, that's basically what I meant by initiative.  I have to cede this point to you; Aresteve does have initiative, because he's been quite capable of handling the various disasters my fellow Admins have created.  I felt like he didn't have initiative because we still had to do things like keep track of construction crews, and decide exactly what they'd build, but that's more due to PW's abilities than Aresteve's.  Plus, we never asked Aresteve to just take over our jobs, so maybe he'd have been able to do way better than us.

Spoiler: Discussion of Saint's build (click to show/hide)

@Various impractical maxing jokes

I don't have the experience for it.  At best, I can get +3 in a single thing.  Also, no, that's stupid.

@Dumping Fate in favor of getting a +1 in Cha

I actually did consider this, for exactly the given reasons.  Saint has terrible luck, and knows it, which is the reason why he's so excessively cautious.  However, while it's accurate to the character,  I'd rather he not die.  Having -1 dex and fate, combined with possibly regrowing his body and going on BLOPS missions, makes death far too likely.  I'll most likely just buff Cha with M26's levelup.

@Dumping Handi

I considered this too, along with dumping GK, because I imagine Saint using excessive amounts of computer assistance for everything he does; using his hands to manipulate something is entirely foreign to him, although he's actually good at tinkering.  Primarily, I didn't do this because I don't see much benefit--I gain a +1 to exo, and lose flexibility.  Plus, considering how much I know about ER, it makes no sense for Saint to have any penalty to Gen. Know.

@Dumping Med

This is a good idea.  It fits with Saint's backstory, because despite being recruited as Hephaestus' doctor, he doesn't care in the slightest about healing people, and would be extremely out of practice.  It also fits with my munchkin desires, because +1 med isn't exactly helpful.  I'll move that point to Exo.


Hmm.  I'm thinking I'll go with AUX instead of Mind.  Before I finalize all this, though, can someone link the dropbox with the new space magic stuff?  I apparently didn't bookmark it.

[NAV]

Here ya go!

[Nikitian]

@syvarris
To be fair, I still maintain that 'Fate' stat is useless. Piecewise has hinted at it being used to 'avoid death', but so far (to my knowledge) he has not definitely postulated that it is actually used for that; he did, on the other hand 'joke' in the very beginning about it being a stat made solely to fuck with us, and so far has maintained that 'mysteriously unstated' attitude towards Fate stat.

But my main, point, of course, is the event of Mesk's death. It is something that should make to textbooks on the game usage of various stats and skills, as it showed that even a Master of Fate (I am not joking, Mesk had +4 in Fate) can not escape imminent death - which could be avoidable, had he mere +1 in End.
Since that day, I have completely lost my faith in the Fate stat.

Of course, it might be that it works like this: [Fate] to avoid being hit - [Dex] to dodge the hit - [End] to tough out the hit; then it means that Fate might have some use, but Dex is still more important. So, well, as long as you have at least +1 in End (better yet maybe +2, but I doubt that Piecewise's 'common sense' minds that threshold, or any higher - probably only +0/+1 one for very specific cases) you might survive some imminently deadly things. And Fate won't save you from anything Dex couldn't save you from; and that's exactly the kind of situation armor is designed for (and, wisely, Steve Saint has so far been a proponent of ever more thick/protective armor).

In short, -1 in Fate is manageable, and if you feel inadequate, it can still be upgraded with next level-up. +1 in End is semi-mandatory, on the other hand - at least for a character as cautious as Steve (Saint).

[Harry Baldman]

It's not so much that the Fate stat is useless as that it functions fundamentally differently in the first place. While End keeps you from getting pulped by incoming horror, Fate keeps the incoming horror away from you. The reason why it didn't protect Mesk, I assume, is because the nuclear explosion was a simple matter of cause and effect. There wasn't any real room for "oh, it mysteriously missed you somehow".

Of course, you could very easily make the argument that who gets most protected by Pancaek's thrown-up shield should have been a Fate roll, in which Mesk ought to have statistically come out ahead.

The trouble is, End works a lot like Fate probably should already, given that End can mysteriously protect you from getting impaled in the brain, which'd be a clear job for Fate if anything. So there's a lot of hypothetical overlap, to the point where it's not really clear which is supposed to do what. A sensible way to treat it would be "Fate prevents harm, Endurance mitigates it". But then, the Fate stat works in mysterious ways (if it even works at all).

It's odd, though, to hear that sort of talk from someone who may have very possibly failed a Fate roll big time and accidentally provoked an alien god in the process. But even if that's the case, I guess Maurice isn't strictly dead now, is he?

[Nunzillor]

I've always thought that Fate prevents one from sustaining damage in certain types of scenarios (like in the midst of sudden shrapnel or indiscriminate enemy fire).  Can't it also be used to 'pray' to some alien entities and get responses?  I've seen that in the case of Lars, I think, who is at +3 fate.

[Nikitian]

@ How Fate works:
Well, I guess your explanations make sense, but then it's still the fickleness of Fate rolls applicability that severely undermines its usefulness. Dodging things you are almost always allowed, and even then you are almost always allowed End rolls (when appropriate), but Fate seems to resemble laser-resistant coating put on Mk I: sure, maybe it can protect you if the enemy is firing lasers at you - and not focusing their fire on you specifically for prolonged periods of time - but encounter a foe with a common projectile weapon, and you are completely screwed.

Maybe if we had any real examples (Word-of-Piecewise confirmed) of [Fate] it could be more clear. But as it is... well, here we are. And it appears that this is exactly as Piecewise would have our knowledge.
(Fun theory: He *did* roll [Fate] for Mesk, but conveniently avoided mentioning it in the Let's Play ER recording. Now that would screw us over. )

@Fate rolls in summoning Lurker in the Angles & praying:
Well, I'd guess the relevant rolls (of any) were completely unrelated to Fate, and either stat-independent, or maybe Intu/Mind-related in case of "praying" (there is evidence of 'special' rolls made for faith-powers, but that evidence long pre-dates Fate stat, so maybe they were lated connected - or maybe not). But if, indeed, [Fate] is rolled for sticking your dick into alien entities and conversing with them, then I'm in for a big restat. 

[Parisbre56]

Plot twist: Fate is a spelling mistake. Piecewise intended to write Faith, but he made a mistake and just rolled with it. The stat actually measures the deliciousness of your pants.

(Oh, hey, deliciousness is a real word according to my autocorrect.)

[syvarris]

My opinion on Fate is the same as Nun's.  It's rolled in situations like when STEPHEN HAWKING stood in the middle of shrapnel, unmoving, but magically quantumly avoided harm.  Presumably, it's also rolled in situations where the target is arbitrary, like selecting which person is shot by a sniper.

Now, I'll agree that it's a weak stat, and the relative value is still (Dex>End>Fate)--But I've already gimped Dex, and I won't be improving End much for at least three missions.  Yes, Saint will be buying an HRB as soon as he's standard mission personnel, but as Yaroslav so effectively demonstrated with that exact item, armor is not enough.

[Egan_BW]

Plot twist: Fate is a spelling mistake. Piecewise intended to write Faith, but he made a mistake and just rolled with it. The stat actually measures the deliciousness of your pants.

(Oh, hey, deliciousness is a real word according to my autocorrect.)

Do you have FAITH?

[Dorsidwarf]

I bet Fate was involved when STEPHEN HAWKING punched a boulder to create a point in space-time where the wavelengths of all possible Grates coalesced.